The clay licks are the reason to come. Macaws, parrots and parakeets gather at exposed riverbank clay to feed on minerals, arriving at first light in a noisy, sustained mass of colour. Chuncho and Colorado are the best known — Colorado is among the largest clay licks in the world — and both need a pre-dawn start from a lodge to reach the blind before the birds arrive. Rain suppresses activity, so allow more than one morning if the macaws are the point of your trip.

Lake Sandoval, reached by a walk and then a paddled canoe from the Madre de Dios river, is the classic oxbow. It holds a resident family of giant river otters, hoatzin along the margins, and black caiman that are best seen after dark by torchlight. It is close enough to Puerto Maldonado to work as a short trip, which makes it the busiest site in the reserve — go early.

The forest trails and canopy towers are where the primates are: red howler monkeys announcing dawn from the canopy, squirrel and capuchin troops moving through the mid-storey. A tower puts you level with mixed feeding flocks and toucans that are otherwise invisible from the ground.

May to October is the dry season and the productive window: lower water exposes the clay licks and concentrates animals. The first two hours after sunrise carry most of the activity, and a night walk or night boat is worth adding for caiman, frogs and the forest's nocturnal insects.

Practicalities

Access is from Puerto Maldonado, a short flight from Cusco or Lima, followed by a river journey to your lodge — anywhere from under an hour to several hours upstream depending on how deep into the reserve you go. Entry requires a certified guide and a lodge or operator authorised by SERNANP, so this is a destination you book as a package rather than arrange on arrival. Distance from town correlates closely with wildlife quality: the deepest lodges are the quietest and the best.